Dechert LLP

Since its founding in 1875, Dechert has become
an international legal force to be reckoned with. In the United
States, the firm is particularly well-known for corporate practice,
especially in international M&A and securities. The firm also
focuses on litigation and is recognized for this work.

Business Savvy

Dechert was originally formed under the name
MacVeagh & Bispham (and later was known as Barnes, Myers &
Price) by George Tucker Bispham and Wayne MacVeagh-MacVeagh would
eventually leave the firm to become US Attorney General and then
ambassador to Italy. During World War II, the firm saw many of its
attorneys leave to join the war effort. In response, the firm
merged with Dechert, Smith and Clark.

In the late 1990s, Barton Winokur became
chairman and CEO of the firm and began reshaping the firm's
business model. Winokur focused on becoming more specialized, and
like any savvy businessman would, he made sure those specialties
were high-revenue practice areas: private equity, intellectual
property and white collar criminal defense. The new business model
paid off, with the firm handling such matters as V&S Vin &
Sprit's-producer of Absolut Vodka-sale to French beverage company
Pernod for $8.9 billion and New World Resource's IPO, which
listed on three different exchanges in London, Prague, and Warsaw
and raised a staggering £1.3 billion-the largest European IPO
at the time.

Dechert was also one of the first US firms to
expand internationally, opening a European office in Brussels in
1968, followed by a London office four years later. The firm
established a Paris presence in 1995. In 2000, the firm undertook a
major expansion in the UK through a merger with Titmuss Sainer
Dechert, a leading London law firm. Since then, Dechert has opened
offices in Luxembourg, Germany, Russia, China, Ireland, and most
recently Kazakhstan and Dubai.

A Range of Expertise

Dechert's litigators are consistently rated
amongst the best in the U.S. Firm chairman Andrew Levander is a
leading white-collar criminal defense lawyer, and is no stranger to
defending prominent Wall Street executives including John Thain,
the former chief executive at Merrill Lynch, in a government
inquiry related to his role in Merrill's sale to Bank of America;
Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager who invested with Bernard L.
Madoff; and John Corzine, the former chief executive of securities
firm MF Global Holdings Ltd.

In addition, Dechert has one of the world's
premier Financial Services groups. The firm represents the most
significant fund complexes in the industry, drawing on both its
far-reaching domestic and international presence and its practice
leaders, who are considered some of the biggest players in the
market.

Expectations of Efficiency

Dechert has undertaken a unique training
program for its lawyers, giving every single attorney in the firm
training in legal project management. Small groups of attorneys are
taught how to better handle their client matters, with an emphasis
on increasing communication with the client at the beginning of and
throughout projects and creating visual roadmaps to organize and
streamline the process. The new training program was driven largely
by the firm's desire to provide more efficient service while
managing client costs.

IN THE NEWS

November
2013

Antitrust ExpertiseChambers recognized Dechert'a antitrust practice group in
its 2014 Award for Excellence in Antitrust/Competition.
Chambers stated the practice group as "routinely sought
after to handle some of the most significant litigation and
transactions in the antitrust world."

Dechert's antitrust/competition practice
handled the two most prominent antitrust merger reviews of 2013 in
the United States: the Department of Justice review of the US$17
billion US Airways/American Airlines merger and the Federal Trade
Commission review of the US$2.5 billion OfficeMax/Office Depot
merger. These deals were announced within two weeks of one another
in February, and their antitrust reviews were resolved within two
weeks of one another in November. Most recently, U.S.-based
Albertsons tapped the antitrust team to represent the food and drug
retailer in its proposed US$9.2 billion merger with grocery store
chain Safeway. The team also was named as antitrust counsel to
National CineMedia, Inc. in its $375 Million Acquisition of
Screenvision.

Fighting for Local Children
A team of Dechert litigators helped attain a settlement with the
School District of Philadelphia that ensures children with autism
will not be unfairly transferred between schools and that parents
will become more involved in the process. Dechert worked with
longtime pro bono partner, the Public Interest Law Center of
Philadelphia, to achieve the settlement, which was preliminarily
approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.

Voting Rights Victory
Dechert litigators achieved victory on behalf of Wisconsin voters
in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Wisconsin enjoining Wisconsin's voter photo ID law following a
two-week trial.

The court found Wisconsin's voter photo ID law
unconstitutional as applied. In addition, the court's decision
established a new precedent in finding that Wisconsin's photo ID
law also violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars
racial discrimination in voting. This marks not only the first
successful Section 2 case challenging a voter ID law, but also the
first Section 2 case to be tried since the U.S. Supreme Court
struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby
v. Holder last year as well as the first constitutional
challenge to a voter ID law since Crawford v. Marion
County Election Board.

A Well-Manicured Deal
Dechert served as legal advisor to The Brickman Group. Ltd. LLC
(Brickman ) in its announced sale to KKR for $1.6 billion. Founded
in 1939, Brickman is the leading provider of landscape maintenance
and snow removal services in the U.S. With nearly 10,000 employees
nationwide, Brickman serves a diversified base of over 10,000
clients, including some of the most well-respected companies and
institutions in the U.S.

July
2013

International Acquisitions
Dechert advised Wells Fargo in relation to the sale of £4 billion
of loans and the London operations of Hypothekenbank Frankfurt
(formerly Eurohypo) by Germany's Commerzbank AG.The Hypothekenbank
portfolio includes £2.7 billion in high quality institutional
assets across the U.K., with a focus on London, as well as £1.3
billion of nonperforming assets. Wells Fargo purchased the
performing two thirds of the portfolio, and private equity firm
Lone Star Funds acquired the nonperforming third. Lone Star's
acquisition was financed with a loan from Wells Fargo.

The acquisition follows San Francisco-based
Wells Fargo's announcement in January 2013 that it was to expand
its U.K. commercial real estate business.

Lehman Lawyers
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed
the dismissal of the ERISA class action, which had been pending
against directors and officers of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Dechert represented all of Lehman's independent directors in the
matter, arguing the appeal on their behalf. The firm continues to
represent the Lehman independent directors in securities actions
and other matters relating to Lehman's bankruptcy (the largest in
U.S. history).